Little Tongues of Fire Read online

  “Then I must congratulate you. I never thought that you would be so intelligent as to marry an heiress to get out of your difficulties.”

  “That is what I intend to do,” Lord Edgar said, “and, of course, Robert, the moment the knot is tied, you shall be paid what you are owed as well as everybody else who has been dunning me!”

  Now his voice was rude and sarcastic and Sir Robert said,

  “Now, don’t take up that attitude, Edgar. We have known each other a long time and I have been a good friend.”

  “I am not prepared to argue about that,” Lord Edgar replied.

  “When you receive your golden rupees,” Sir Robert said reflectively, “I hope you will not forget your old friends.”

  “I am not likely to and let me assure you, Robert, that things will be exactly the same as they have always been.”

  “Well, Connie will be pleased about that!”

  “I intend to give her the finest diamonds any little Cyprian has ever possessed.”

  “And what about your wife? What will she say?”

  “I will give her plenty of babies to keep her busy,” Lord Edgar answered and they both laughed.

  “If there is one thing about you, Edgar,” Sir Robert Warde said, “it is that you always manage, in one way or another, to extricate yourself from trouble.”

  “This time more successfully than usual,” Lord Edgar smiled with satisfaction, “and, as you are going to be paid with interest, let’s have a drink on it.”

  “I am very very pleased about that,” Sir Robert Warde said, “and don’t forget to ask me to the first riotous party you give after you are married, that is, if your wife is not playing hostess.”

  “Connie will do so and you can bring Lulu or have the first pick of the best of the soiled doves that I can collect together.”

  “That is what I want to hear,” Sir Robert replied. “Now, come on, my boy! Where is that drink?”

  The two men were laughing as they left the library.

  Vina was staring ahead and the stricken look that the Duke had seen in her eyes the previous night was intensified.

  As it happened, she knew who Connie was.

  She had come into the drawing room rather quietly about a month before and heard Lady Farringham say to her aunt,

  “I am told Lord Edgar is spending a fortune, which he does not possess, on that young actress who appears at the Olympic Theatre.”

  “Is that the same one who cost him so much last year?” Lady Warde asked.

  “Oh, no,” Lady Farringham had replied. “Connie Courtney was then under the protection of the Earl of Hastings, who I have always thought was a terrible old man, although, of course, very rich. Now it appears that Lord Edgar has inveigled her away and the parties he gives for her are worse than any orgy ever thought up by the Romans!”

  The two ladies had laughed, but Vina, thinking that such gossip was boring, had slipped away to another room where she could read.

  Now she remembered quite clearly what had been said.

  How could she allow money to be spent on women who she was aware that no lady would know?

  She had thought of the children she had seen starving in India and the poverty, which she knew because she read the newspapers that existed as well in England.

  She felt that it was an insult to her father that the fortune that had been left to him should be expended in such an outrageous manner.

  ‘How can I stop it? What can I do?’ she asked herself.

  There was no answer.

  After a time, because she could no longer concentrate, she put the books back on the shelves that she had taken them from and slipped out of the house by a side door into the garden.

  As the Duke had made her realise the night before, the surroundings of Quarington were very beautiful.

  There were not only distant views, there were also the spring shrubs coming into bloom in the garden, daffodils under the trees and the green lawns which ended in a water garden.

  There was a small cascade falling over some rocks, ending in a huge pool that later would be filled with water lilies.

  It was all very beautiful.

  Because it was unprecedentedly warm for the time of year, she walked among the trees not realising that she had come without a shawl or a bonnet.

  The budding leaves on the trees had a special beauty of their own and Vina thought that in a month or so they would be a blaze of blossom and it would seem like Fairyland.

  Then she remembered that by that time, unless she had saved herself, she would be married to a man whom she hated and despised.

  Her whole body shrank in horror at the idea of being his wife.

  “Save me, save me!” she cried out to the trees towering above her, the flowers growing at her feet and the distant view that last night had been enchanted by the moonlight.

  Then, suddenly, as if somebody was speaking to her – she was sure that it was her father – she knew what she must do.

  *

  “Surely,” Lady Wallace said to her husband, “he has spoken to Vina by this time?”

  They were somewhat detached from the party, which had left the dining room and were moving into one of the State Reception rooms.

  Lady Wallace spoke in a very low voice, but the General looked round a little nervously as if he felt that she might be overheard.

  “There is no hurry,” he muttered.

  “But we are leaving tomorrow,” Lady Wallace protested, “and once they are engaged, there is so much for us to discuss with the dear Duke.”

  The General was prevented from replying because at that moment the Duke came up to them.

  “I was wondering, Lady Wallace,” he said, “what you and your husband would like to do this afternoon? I don’t know whether you have yet seen the Picture Gallery or if you would prefer to go driving.”

  “I am waiting to hear what dear little Vina is doing,” Lady Wallace replied in dulcet tones.

  The Duke looked round and realised that since they had left the dining room she had disappeared.

  His brother was talking to two men and the conversation was obviously very amusing as they were all laughing.

  “I don’t want any of my guests to do anything but enjoy themselves,” he said, “and perhaps the wisest thing a host can do in these circumstances is to leave them alone.”

  “Oh, no, Your Grace! I am sure that everybody wants to be with you,” Lady Wallace exclaimed flatteringly.

  “Well, I personally am going to the stables,” the Duke said.

  He moved away as he spoke and instantly Irene Halford was at his side.

  “Dearest Alveric!” she cooed. “Will you take me driving or could we have a cosy chat in my boudoir?”

  “I am afraid, Irene, I have to look after my guests,” the Duke answered. “We could go driving, but it would be a mistake for you to be with me as you have been yesterday.”

  Lady Halford pouted petulantly and then she said in the soft and seductive tones he knew so well,

  “I will go and lie down and you shall join me as soon as you can.”

  The Duke knew exactly what she meant, but merely replied,

  “I will do what I can, Irene, but I have no wish to lose my reputation for being a good host.”

  He walked away from her and with difficulty she prevented herself from stamping her foot.

  She had been so sure, when he had asked her to stay for the weekend because he knew that her husband was away, that she had captured him completely.

  She thought that he was, as she had always wanted, overwhelmingly in love with her.

  Yet there was no doubt that at the moment he was being elusive and it was something she did not like.

  She had noticed with much satisfaction when she arrived that there were no potential rivals in the party.

  The other women were either accompanied by their husbands or else were too insignificant to compete with her beauty or wit.

  Now, because the Duke was no
t so attentive or so ardent as she wanted him to be, she was determined to redouble her attraction for him.

  She would make him completely a captive of her love.

  ‘He is so handsome,’ she told herself. ‘I will kill any woman who tries to take him from me!’

  *

  Vina had once again found her way to the library.

  She thought that judging by her experience in the morning she was unlikely to find anyone there. And if anybody did enter the library, they would not see her.

  She took out the books that she had put away earlier, climbed up the twisting steps to the balcony and sat down in the same place where she had been before.

  Now, because she had made an important decision, she was able to concentrate on what she was reading.

  Nearly an hour later she did not hear the library door open nor did she realise that anybody had climbed onto the balcony until she looked up to see the Duke standing in front of her.

  “I thought you would be hiding here,” he began.

  “How can – you have – thought that?”

  “Because I knew that you would want to read and also you would want to be alone,” he replied.

  “Your books are very – fascinating!”

  “I was sure they would please you. Now, Vina, suppose we have a little talk, as you promised me you would last night?”

  He did not sit down beside her as she expected, although it would have been rather a squeeze.

  Instead to her surprise he sat down on the floor with his back against a bookcase and his feet stretched out against the balcony.

  It made him seem less overwhelming and in a way more human and, as she thought of it, she knew that it was what he intended.

  “Last night you greatly worried me,” the Duke said, “and it was only when you had left me, much sooner than I intended, that I realised I had not asked you to give me your word of honour that it was something you would never do again.”

  He paused and, when she did not speak, he said,

  “I am waiting to have it now.”

  “As I told you – I have no – wish to be a coward,” Vina said hesitatingly.

  “In which case swear to me on everything that you believe in that you will not again attempt to take your life,” the Duke insisted.

  “I – swear to you,” Vina replied in a very low voice, “that I will not throw myself from – the Tower of Despair.”

  It flashed through the Duke’s mind that there were other ways of committing suicide.

  But, as he thought that it would be a mistake to pressure Vina in any way, he felt that he must be content with this promise.

  “Now,” he said, “shall we talk about your future?”

  Again there was a little pause.

  Then Vina said,

  “Could we – please leave it until tomorrow? I am trying to – think clearly and what Papa would have called ‘logically’. Everything has been such a – shock that it is – difficult to be constructive.”

  She spoke as if she was thinking out every word and after a moment the Duke said,

  “I want to tell you, Vina, that I think you are a very intelligent, very unusual and indeed remarkable young woman.”

  He spoke with a note of sincerity that made her blush.

  Then she asked him,

  “Would it be at all possible – while everybody else is busy – for me to ride Hercules again for – ”

  She stopped and the Duke looked at her questioningly.

  He had the feeling that she had been going to say, ‘for the last time’.

  He told himself that it would be a great mistake at this particular moment when he felt that she was perhaps becoming used to the idea of marrying Edgar for him to submit her to any sort of inquisition.

  He smiled before he replied,

  “I think, if we are clever, we can slip out through a side door, which I shall show you when you are ready. Nobody will know where we have gone and, although it is a great sacrifice on my part, I will allow you to ride Hercules.”

  Vina’s eyes lit up and she gave a little laugh that was like that of a child being promised a very special treat.

  The Duke rose to his feet and they both climbed down from the balcony.

  Then, because that he thought they might be seen if they went through the hall, he took her up to the first floor by the secondary staircase.

  He told her where to meet him and Vina was sure that nobody had any idea where they were going before they reached the stables.

  After the grooms had saddled the horses at a record speed, they set off in the same direction that Vina had ridden the day before towards the flat land beyond the paddocks.

  The Duke was riding a stallion that was nearly as impressive as Hercules, but a little older and because he had ridden him for two years, he responded to his every wish.

  Hercules was, as usual, obstreperous.

  The Duke was confident now that Vina could control him.

  He thought too that it would have been impossible for any woman to look more alluring than she did with her slight figure riding such an enormous animal.

  He was also aware that there were stars of happiness in her eyes, a very different expression from the stricken look that had perturbed him so much the night before.

  Nearly an hour had passed when he said,

  “I think we should now turn for home.”

  Vina looked suddenly serious and there was a dreamy note in her voice as she said,

  “Yesterday when I reached here – I thought I should return – but I really wanted to go on riding – forever into the far horizon where – there would be no – problems and no difficulties.”

  “Have you ever considered that life would be very dull without them?” the Duke asked. “You told me that you found England monotonous. Perhaps that was because you had not yet faced a challenge.”

  He thought as he spoke that he was trying to make her marriage sound exciting.

  Instead, he knew, if he was honest, that for anyone so sensitive, it would be a living hell.

  ‘I ought to save her,’ he told himself.

  Then, as she turned Hercules’s head, she looked at him with an unexpectedly mischievous expression in her eyes.

  Before he could stop her she had ridden Hercules towards the high fence that she had jumped when she had been running away from him.

  “No, Vina, no!” he called out sharply, but it was too late. Vina had already taken Hercules over it and was riding confidently onto the next fence and there was nothing that the Duke could do but follow her.

  Only as he caught up with her after the third fence had been taken did she ask in a small childlike voice that he found particularly attractive,

  “Are you – angry with – me?”

  “No, only astonished,” he replied.

  “That I can ride Hercules or that I should have the – impudence to – defy you?”

  “Both! At the same time I realise that my fears for your safety are unfounded. How can you have learnt to ride so brilliantly?”

  “I have ridden in some very odd places with Papa,” she answered, “and sometimes we had to escape from unpleasant situations – besides finding our way across country without maps or compass.”

  “Then I know that your father would be proud of his pupil,” the Duke said.

  “You told me last night that I should not do anything that he would disapprove of,” Vina replied quietly.

  “I am quite sure that he would want you to be brave and ready to face an enemy with determination and courage.”

  He hoped as he spoke that he did not sound too much as if he was preaching.

  Vina did not reply.

  He was, however, sure as they rode on that he had convinced her, although they had not actually discussed it, that her marriage to Edgar would be a challenge.

  They did not speak as they trotted back towards the stables.

  The grooms were waiting for them and, when Vina dismounted, she patted He
rcules and kissed him on the nose.

  “Goodbye,” the Duke heard her whisper.

  He wondered as they walked towards the side door whether there was any inner meaning in her farewell.

  Then he told himself that he was being imaginative. There was no equivalent of the French au revoir in the English language and ‘goodbye’ could mean the parting of a few hours as well as a farewell for Eternity.

  “Thank you, Your Grace,” Vina said as they stopped at the bottom of the stairs, “Thank you – for a wonderful experience that I shall never – forget!”

  The Duke did not reply and she ran up the stairs.

  He stood watching until she was out of sight.

  Then, as he walked towards the Great Hall, he found himself wondering once again how he could find a way to save Vina from marrying his brother.

  Chapter Six

  At dinner the Duke thought that Vina certainly looked much happier than she had the night before.

  She was talking animatedly to the men on either side of her and it struck him that Edgar also seemed in a better humour.

  It flashed through his mind that they might have come to some secret arrangement between themselves. And then it seemed impossible.

  He had, however, no chance of talking to Vina after dinner, as she did not play the piano again, she disappeared almost like a ghost before he was aware of what she intended to do.

  He knew that her aunt was very annoyed at her disappearance.

  He sat down beside her on the sofa while his other guests were arranging themselves at the card tables and Lady Wallace said,

  “I cannot imagine why Vina should be so elusive, unless, of course, she is with your brother.”

  The Duke looked round the room and saw that Edgar had also vanished.

  He had the idea, however, that once again he had gone to the billiard room, where he spent as much time drinking as playing billiards.

  He thought, however, that it would be a mistake to get into a confidential conversation with Lady Wallace and merely said,

  “There is plenty of time for everybody to talk things over. Let me find you a place at the card tables.”

  He seemed to make it an order and Lady Wallace obediently sat down to play bridge with three of the older members of the party.